Posts Tagged ‘Bitmain modified firmware’

It seems that just like with the newer Antminer Z9 Mini the new faster Antminer Z9 Equihash ASIC miners from Bitmain are arriving with locked overclock functionality in the firmware. We already know that these ASIC miners are overclocking pretty well and you can easily get a nice performance boost over the stock hashrate the devices come with, so why is Bitmain limiting you… it is pretty clear, they want you to buy more units. Fortunately there are alternatives that allow you to overclock your Antminer Z9 miners and get a nice extra performance boost. Initially there was only a modified firmware released by user efudd on Bitcointalk that was sold to interested people, but now there is also a free version of a modified firmware available with unlocked frequencies by smartass111. Of course you are more than welcome to make a donation to the author of the modified firmware in order to support and motivate him.

The new faster in terms of hashrate Bitmain Antminer Z9 ASIC miners do seem to be more limited in terms of operating voltage, so you will most likely will not be able to overclock them as much as a Z9 Mini, but still going from the default operating frequency of 500 MHz to 625 or 650 MHz should be possible on pretty much all miners. If you are lucky you might be able to even squeeze some more extra as well, just make sure you keep the chips cool enough when you start to overclock and also to have a powerful enough power supply that can handle the extra load that it will get after the overclock. Getting an extra performance boost of 20% or maybe even a bit more for free is something that you should definitely take advantage of if you have some Antminer Z9’s.

If you are a miner using Bitmain’s Antminer L3+ Scrypt ASICs for mining Litecoin (LTC) or another Scrypt-based altcoin you might be interested in checking out the Blissz modified firmware for the L3+. A while ago we have covered the Antminer D3 Blissz Modified Firmware For Improved Performance and the good news is that the L3+ modified firmware offers pretty much the same improvement and features as for the X11 ASIC. Optimized power usage and performance, extra features and various improvements are available, though in order to take full advantage of the modified firmware you will need to know what you are doing. Also note that this modified firmware does come with a 1.5% developer fee built-in, though the improvements it might being are definitely worth the dev fee and if you do not like what you get you can always get back to the stock Bitmain firmware.

It is not a secret that the default firmware and even settings for many of the ASIC miners that come out from the manufacturers are hardly with the best/optimal settings and often they are also limited in what you can tweak yourself. So some more advanced users take the matter in their hands in order to further optimize for performance and or stability and reliability and even add extra features that help owners of the devices to get better profit or higher profit for example. One such case is the Antminer D3 Blissz Modified Firmware for the X11 ASICs being produces by Bitmain that you might want to give a try if you have even at least one of these ASIC miners.

The custom firmware promises up to 20% lower power usage and some extra features such as ASIC voltage settings per chain as well as the ability to overclock or underclock per chain as well as more control on fan operational speeds. There are some usability improvements in the interface to make it easier and clear to use as well as some slight performance improvements as well to make it more stable and reliable in terms of operation including cgminer binary optimizations.

Do note that this is an experimental custom firmware and using it might void your warranty. Also note that it comes with built-in 1.5% developer fee built-in, so do have that in mind, although the improvements if working as promised are well worth the dev fee. The good thing is that even if you don’t like something or it does not work as expected flashing back the original firmware is as easy as installing the custom one, so you can quickly give it a go and if you don’t like the results to get back to the original.

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